Anthony Gordon scored on fifty five and for thirty minutes England were going to a World Cup final. Then Thomas Tuchel took his goalscorer off on seventy two, went back three and then back five, and England spent the rest of the evening as a defensive art installation. Enzo Fernandez dipped one in from outside the box on eighty five. Lautaro Martinez headed in at the back post on ninety plus two. Both were assisted by Lionel Messi, because of course they were.

The numbers on the collapse are genuinely hard to look at. After Gordon's goal England averaged twelve percent possession. After the seventy second minute substitutions they completed seven passes in the opposition half and had one touch in the final third before conceding. Zero touches in Argentina's box after the switch to a back five. Argentina had ninety three percent of the ball across the final twenty one minutes. That is not a team defending a lead. That is a team hiding under the stairs hoping the noise stops.

Meanwhile Lionel Scaloni made five changes between the sixty fourth and eighty first minutes, all of them forward-thinking, and every goal and assist in the comeback ran through them. Lautaro came on with nine minutes left, having nearly been suspended for a second yellow in the quarter-final, and won the semi. He had said he dreamed it. He is allowed the victory lap on that one. Two managers, two philosophies, one of them ended up in a final.